Comparison of Executive function in Students with High-Low Test Anxiety in Lower Secondry Education

چکیده مقاله

Executive function is a set of mental processes that helps connect past experience with present action. People use it to perform activities such as planning, organizing, paying attention to and remembering details, and managing time and space. Disorder in executive functions is one of the causes of psychological trauma, such as anxiety. The aim of this research was to compare the executive functions (reasoning, working memory and organizing-planning) of the lower secondary students with high and low Test Anxiety. The method of research was ex-post facto and the statistical population was lower secondary students in slamshahr. The study sample consisted of 373 secondary school students who were selected through multistage cluster sampling by conducting anxiety test over a number 40male (20student with high anxiety and 20 student with low anxiety) and 40female (20 student with high anxiety and 20 student with low anxiety). The research instruments were Andre-Rey Test (Andre-Rey, 1942), Digit span and similarities subtests of Wechsler intelligence scale (Wechsler, 1949) and Test Anxiety Inventory (Abolghasemi et al, 1996). Data were analyzed using t-test and regression analysis. Research findings showed that the level of reasoning and working memory functions was significantly lower in students with high-test anxiety as compared to students with low-test anxiety. However, there is no significant difference between two groups of students in the organizing-planning Component. Executive functions are Stronger in students with low-test anxiety than students that have high-test anxiety. There was not any significant difference between executive functions in male and female students. Results of regression analysis indicated that executive functions could be used to predict the changes in test anxiety. Executive functions are effective in the level of test anxiety students. The students who have stronger executive functions will experience less anxiety.